This application is based upon and claims priority of Korean Patent Applications Nos. 98-3865 filed Feb. 10, 1998 and 98-15882 filed May 2, 1998, the contents being incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge for accommodating and protecting a disc, such as a CD-ROM, DVD, or the like, so that information can be recorded/reproduced on/from the disc.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional cartridge for accommodating a disc accommodates and protects a disc from dust, fingerprints, scratching, etc., so that information is recorded/reproduced on/from the disc without an error. The cartridge is received by an information recording/reproducing device (hereinafter referred to as an information recording device) where the information is recorded/reproduced on/from the disc. The cartridge has a receiving opening for exposing the disc, and a longitudinal opening extending from the receiving opening. The receiving opening and the longitudinal opening are opened/closed by a shutter.
The information recording device has a means for opening/closing the shutter of the cartridge, a turn table on which the disc is placed through the receiving opening, a means for rotating the turn table, and an optical pick-up device for recording/reproducing the information on/from the disc.
The cartridge is seated on a tray of the information recording device, and accommodated/withdrawn into/from the information recording device. The shutter opening/closing means of the information recording device opens the shutter installed on the cartridge in one direction. While the receiving opening and the longitudinal opening of the cartridge are open, the disc is seated on the turn table having a diameter of approximately 28-30 mm, which is advanced into the receiving opening, and fastened by a chucking member disposed above. In this situation, the disc, the turn table, and the chucking member are rotated together by a spindle motor. While the disc is rotated, the optical pick-up device is linearly advanced in a radial direction of the disc, irradiating optical signals so as to record/reproduce the information on/from the disc.
However, since the conventional cartridge for accommodating the disc requires a shutter that is large enough to cover the receiving opening and the longitudinal opening, the cartridge has been inevitably voluminous. That is, since the receiving opening has a diameter of more than 28-30 mm to receive the turn table having a diameter of 28-30 mm, the receiving opening is larger than the longitudinal opening. Therefore, the shutter has to be larger than the receiving opening as well as the longitudinal opening in order to prevent the exposure of the receiving opening and the longitudinal opening when the cartridge is not in use. Accordingly, since the cartridge has to be large enough to accommodate the shutter moving laterally, the conventional cartridge is unnecessarily larger than the volume of the disc accommodated therein.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome above-described problems of the conventional cartridge, and to provide a cartridge for completely opening/closing a receiving opening and a longitudinal opening thereof with a shutter having less width, thereby minimizing the size of the cartridge.
Additional objects and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.
Objects and advantages of the present invention are achieved with a cartridge for accommodating a disc, comprising: a case to accommodate the disc therein, the case having a receiving opening and a longitudinal opening through which an information reproducing device chucks and accesses the disc; a shutter, mounted on the case and movable with respect to the case, to open and close the longitudinal opening and a part of the receiving opening; and a closing device to completely close a part of the receiving opening which is not closed by the shutter, the closing device being operated by movement of the shutter.
Thus, in accordance with the present invention, when the cartridge is not in use, the receiving opening and the longitudinal opening are not exposed, while when the cartridge is in use, the receiving opening and the longitudinal opening are open so that information can be recorded/reproduced on/from the disc. Furthermore, unnecessary bulky volume of the cartridge is prevented, so that compact-sized products are produced.